Hawker Hunter FR.12(M) Seaplane
The Hawker Hunter FR.12(M) Seaplane jet fighter was a seaplane development of the basic Hawker Hunter FGA.9. Development The aircraft was first conceived as a way of protecting New Commonwealth island garrisons from air attack by hostile bombers and shipping in the Pacific and the Caribbean. There were many islands in these regions under New Commonwealth administration that had little or no airfields. The ones that did have airfields were extremely vulnerable to attack. Seaplane fighters offered some level of defence and the concept was then expanded to providing a limited offensive ability for 'island-hopping' operations. There were some misgivings regarding the project however. Many analysts believed that adding sponsons to allow a Hunter to land on water would create too many problems with regards to handling and performance to be justified. There was also a fear that spray from the forward end of the sponsons would throw up water in to the aircraft's intakes thus drowning the engine. Hawker approached these problems with stubborn defiance. To compensate for the added weight and drag of the sponsons the aircraft was fitted with a Rolls-Royce Avon Mk.301 turbojet engine which produced 2,000lbs more dry thrust than the Mk.203 fitted to the FGA.9. This did alleviate some of the problems imposed by the sponsons but performance remained inferior to the basic Hunter. The forward half of sponsons were designed to deflect the spray away from fuselage while the aircraft itself sits relatively nose high when on the water. This also increases the Angle-of-Attack during take-off. Testing of a prototype began in May 1961 with flotation tests being carried out Lake Windermere. The aircraft proved sufficiently buoyant and limited taxi trials were undertaken until the local authorities complained of the damage the jet wash was doing to aquatic life. Hawker was suitably happy with the trials to take the aircraft to sea at that point however. The prototype was therefore tested inshore from Hull in Yorkshire. This proved to be almost fatal for the test pilot however as the choppy seas almost caused the aircraft to tip over several times and testing therefore stopped. Not willing to give up, Hawker elected to test the aircraft in the Pacific (where the aircraft was expected to operate) flying from north east Australia. These tests proved far more successful and included combat scenarios to test the feasibility of the concept. The main criticism lay not in the aircraft's water capability but in its lack of a radar. Therefore the second prototype was redesigned to incorporate a Blue Hound radar in a modified nose. This did cause some balancing issues when in the water and the sponsons were moderately repositioned. The first production Hunter FR.12(M) flew for the first time in February 1963. Service History Singapore The Royal Singaporean Air Force was a keen enthusiast of the project seeing the obvious benefits to such an aircraft for the purposes of its defence. Eight aircraft were ordered initially and these formed the basis of the first squadron. This proved the source of some controversy however as the Royal Singaporean Navy had hoped to operate the aircraft as part of an effort to form a naval fixed wing capability. Category:Aircraft